The Unseen One

Chapter one

Walking in the early morning, ice cold, my fingers are stone cold turning a light shade of blue. The snow is crunching under my shoes, no one is around except my thoughts. It’s desolate and silent. Not a single sound, I keep walking, I shove my hands into my jacket where it’s warmer. All of a sudden there was a crash followed by someone saying my name in my ear. Frozen in fear I looked around and there was nothing around me so I thought it was just the wind. Cautiously I walked forward still on edge but I kept going. After about 5 minutes I came to the conclusion that it was all in my head or so I had thought.

An empty mill station is up ahead, I walk as fast as I can as I’m freezing. I hear my name “Sophie” in a raspy tone but still no one is there. I contemplate if I’ve gone insane or maybe hit my head but I don’t think I have. I reached the door of the mill station but it stuck. Maybe it would work if I put my weight into it, I try to put my weight into it and it doesn’t budge. So I try to find a new way to do it. There’s a window that I could reach but I’d have to break the window somehow. There’s a brick by the door, I use it to break the window. As I got inside the voice was louder “Find the truth” said the voice “ who are you ? What are you? I asked. No one answered. I looked around to see what happened here. It looked as if people left in a hurry. I walk around to see if there is anything I could use, a knife sitting on the table might be good to use. I picked up the knife and continued to look. Things I found were strange: an old flashlight, some old letters, something happened here and I found an old iron key that looked very old from the 1600’s. If I wanted to know what the voice was, I am gonna have to find out what happened here and when it happened

Chapter Two

Looking further into town I passed by abandoned cars and buses, they all had looked like people suddenly left them there. I walked over to the public transportation bus and its door swung wide up. I climbed in and saw that the key was still in the ignition. They must have really just left in a hurry. It was still running when the driver abandoned his bus, there’s no gas left in the tank. Further investigating the bus I found a backpack with someone’s lunchbox in it and a key ring with a lanyard that looks like it’s from the local highschool, a teachers key ring perhaps. I save that lunch box for later and I place the lanyard around my neck, a creeping chill enters the bus. My hair begins to stand on end and I get goosebumps. I feel as if a presence was nearby not saying anything but creepily watching me. I leave the bus and keep going, I walk towards the highschool. The front doors have been chained up. I Look at the other entrances and they have all been chained. I must find a way to find more information. I take a second to look at my surroundings, looking back at the school there’s statues everywhere as if it were frozen in time. The beautiful scenery it once was looked like it had been through it with the weather. The weather here seems unnatural because right outside of town it’s a normal winter day cold but not a blizzard and freezing till my fingers are blue. I find a crowbar next to one of the doors around the outside of the school and crack one of the windows of a door and reach my hand towards the lock, I cut my arm on trying to unlock the door. The blood gushes everywhere and I walk inside and find a first aid kit, patch myself up and look around. Everything looks like everyone rushed out. There’s backpacks and paper scattered everywhere, lockers open and fallen leaves everywhere as well. I looked inside some lockers that were open and it was normal high school stuff. I grab a small notebook and a pen and empty one of the backpacks and put the stuff I’ve been holding in there. I look for more useful stuff while I’m walking. I found a trophy case there’s random names and sports. I try to find the office and look in there. I find the office and look through old files and get more information on students and try to find anything on students on who disappeared or accidents that happened there wasn’t anything at first but I kept looking around the office and I ended up in the principal’s office and that was pretty interesting there was a huge file on this one kid the name was blacked out and but I opened the file and there was a red huge lettering that said “disappeared” I grab the folder and start to put it in the backpack. It’s getting dark and I need to find a place to sleep and we can pick this back up in the morning. I walk back outside and I see a house down the road and walk to there the house door was unlocked and I look to make sure everything was safe in there I find a chair and put it against the door just in case and I also lock it. I decided to sleep on the couch as I was too anxious to sleep really. I try to sleep but sleep doesn’t come until I’m exhausted and I fall into a deep sleep. I dream of this unknown thing that is following me. What does it want? What does it want with me? I know that it wants me to find the truth but when I finish that will it let me go? Or will it kill me? I guess we will have to find out the more I learn. Then eventually I fall into a dream that is calm and reminds me of home where there are bustling streets and lively neighborhoods. When I wake up in the early morning the sun is just rising, blades of light shine through the branches of a nearby willow tree on my face.

A haunting chill lingered in the air, it went straight to the core of my being.. I felt as though I was being watched. Trees swaying in the breeze taunted me as their branches scrap against buildings and each other. I squinted my eyes, scanning my surroundings. I noticed this place I’m in now is not the same as yesterday… it’s overgrown with abandon. For the first time I feel alone, its sending my mind into overdrive, the lack of stimulation makes my mind wander into seeing and hearing things that aren’t there. I yell out “This isn’t real! It’s a dream, send me back!” I pinch my cheek.. Nothing I do it again for good measure, still nothing. It is what I feared I’m very much awake and that terrifies me. 

I shouldn’t waste any time being alone, I gather my bearings and remember I have a purpose here. Something or someone led me here. I don’t know if it’s fate that my car ran out of gas just two miles outside of town or if it’s rotten luck, those were my thoughts yesterday but now I know what I’m feeling is.. Something else it’s indescribable. I take a look through the pack I picked up from the bus and remember to go back and take another look things are different now, I wonder what i could find.

What I found was not for the faint of heart, I had glimpses enter my mind of what happened here as I walked up inside the bus, there were bodies crumpled on the floor, some bludgeoned, some slashed, others just mutilated beyond description. Then they simply disappeared, what the heck is going on here.

I feel like the world is fucking with me, wait did somehow ingest mushrooms or have LSD tables touch my skin, cause i dont know how to perceive whats happening. I pour everything out of the pack and what catches my eye is a key but this is different not as old looking as before, way more modern it looks to be for a door that commands an air of “Administration” it has to unlock something at the school. 

The roads leading up to the school, have seen better days as well, cracks form creating an uneven surface of gravel, rock and grass. I see the school in a new light now, its decrepit remains a testament of endurance against time and the elements. It stands tall and unwavering with a sense of doom crowding over it like storm clouds of the Midwest. I feel that presence watching over me again; it’s getting stronger than it ever was before. As I walk up to the main doors of the High School, I see the sign “Home of the—-” with a picture of a red bird squawking, it seems so familiar yet I don’t know why I didn’t feel that way yesterday, maybe seeing it in a new light awakened a new memory I push open the double doors of the school they creaked so loudly it wasn’t loud but it sliced the serenity of the moment. This can’t be good, that’s got to be a warning if i ever heard one.. But I press on. The floors of the main hall had  debris and detritus. Scattered haphazardly. 

Chapter 3

The hallways stretched out before me, darker than before. My flashlight flickered weakly, and for a split second, I thought I saw someone standing at the end of the corridor — but when the light steadied, there was nothing there. Just peeling paint and the long-forgotten memories of a place that once felt alive.

The key in my pocket felt heavier now, like it wanted me to move.

I found a heavy, wooden door down a side hallway, its brass plate labeled: “Administration.” I pulled the key from my pocket and, with trembling fingers, slid it into the lock. It fit perfectly. A loud click echoed down the empty hallways.

Pushing the door open, the smell hit me first — musty papers, something metallic… blood? I gagged but forced myself to step inside.

The office was trashed, like someone had torn through it in desperation. Filing cabinets were pulled out and overturned. Old school banners dropped from the ceiling like decaying vines.

On the far side of the room, there was a door labeled “Archives.”

It was slightly ajar. Light spilled from underneath — faint, but unnatural. It wasn’t the warm yellow of a normal bulb — it was a cold, bluish glow that almost seemed to pulse.

I hesitated, every instinct screaming for me to turn around. But the voice from before, the one that whispered “Find the truth,” echoed in my head.

I pushed the Archives door open.

Inside was… something I wasn’t ready for.

The walls were lined with file cabinets, but the center of the room was dominated by a massive, swirling vortex — like a mirror that had been shattered and set in motion. It pulsed and twisted, reflecting not just my image, but hundreds of others — faces I didn’t recognize. Some were crying. Some were screaming. Some were… staring right at me, as if they knew me.

A figure emerged from the vortex.

It was tall, gaunt, and its features shifted like mist. One second it was the face of a stranger, then my mother, then a friend I hadn’t seen in years — then, horrifyingly, it took on my own face, distorted and weeping.

It spoke in a guttural voice that reverberated in my bones:

“Truth demands sacrifice.”

I stumbled back, crashing into a filing cabinet. Papers rained down around me. One piece stuck to my hand — an old, yellowed document with my name on it.

Sophie M. — Subject: Unseen Project. Status: Active.

My heart stopped. What the hell was this?

The vortex pulled harder now, and the room started to shake. Dust rained from the ceiling. I had seconds to decide: face whatever this “truth” was, or run.

But deep down, I already knew.

There was no escape. Not anymore.